IRON MAN -
PREVIEW

Based on the long-running Marvel
comic book series, Iron Man tells the story of Tony Stark, the enigmatic
heir to the Stark Enterprises fortune. A driven inventor and executive who
seems to have it all, Tony is haunted by his dark side. Though he commands
his empire by day, by night he secretly becomes Iron Man, the living
embodiment of decades of defence spending and innovation. Strapping on
billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art armour and weaponry each
night to fight crime, terrorism and corporate espionage, Tony begins to
crack under the strain of his fractured lifestyle and must ultimately
confront the one enemy he can never beat

—
himself.

We say

You know the entertainment industry is fanatically
dedicated to milking the Marvel comic book universe to the last drop when
they make “second-tier” superheroes such as
Ghost Rider and Iron Man into movies and even remake movies
which didn’t work out in the first place, such as The Incredible Hulk.

So what Marvel Comics character is next up for
another shot at cinematic glory then? Howard the Duck?

Anyway, despite not being as well-known as
Spider-man or even as iconic as
Ghost Rider, the Iron Man
character had been around since the ‘Sixties.

Back then the character had its origins as a
multi-millionaire who is kidnapped by a Vietcong warlord during a field
trip to inspect armaments made by his multinational company for use by the
U.S. military during the Vietnam War.

After his capture our capitalist hero is coerced into
making weapons for the dastardly commies, but instead he designs a
powerful robot suit which he uses to pull his own My Lai massacre on his
captors. Who said anything about comics being subversive? Back then Stan
Lee wrote them as jingoist as the next guy . . . provided the next guy is
General Westmoreland.

In later years our multi-millionaire hero (Tony Stark,
played in the movie by Robert Downey Jr.) grew into a more complex
character when he famously fought an alcohol addiction in the 1970s, an
era in which comics “grew up”. (It also explains why Downey got the part.
Art imitating life and all that . . .)

With the advances in CGI effects it was only natural
that Iron Man be given its cinematic shot. His robotic suit would
only have looked silly if down in “traditional” effects.

And the whole Vietnam origin story?

The Vietnam locale has been dropped for . . .
Afghanistan, which is kinda depressing when you think about it . . .